


You Leave Me Breathless

by TheThinWhiteDude



Category: Borderlands
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 17:45:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8170385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheThinWhiteDude/pseuds/TheThinWhiteDude
Summary: "I think we should see other people.""....What do you mean, Rhysie? No, no Baby, come on, talk to me. What's gotten into you all of a sudden?" Rhys doesn't love Jack anymore, and it's become painfully obvious for both of them.





	

Hands gripped weakly at the silky sheets below the tangled bodies, the only noises in the room being panted breaths, soft groans, and the sound of skin hitting skin accompanied by some rather lewd squelches. Despite the act of intimacy, only one of the men seemed even remotely interested in the routine. Every night after a long day of work, Jack called Rhys up from his cubicle, and the pair made their way up to Jack's pent house. They used to have sparks, and fun. Rhys and the CEO would take turns cooking dinner. When it was Rhys, Jack would stand behind him and sway their hips to the music playing softly in the background. They'd laugh, every night was something to look forward to. 

If dinner wasn't home cooked, they went out for a nice, romantic evening. Now, the pair did it almost tiredly. The meals were usually precooked freezer food, thrown in the oven and served by one of the two tired boyfriends, while the other either worked from home or watched the television idly. They barely spoke, and when they did, it tended to fall flat very quickly. The younger brunet wasn't sure WHY he'd tired of his boss and their budding romance so quickly, but some part of him assumed it was because Handsome Jack wasn't his hero anymore. They didn't go to Pandora on awesome adventures and conquer things, they stayed in every night and did things that hardly involved each other.

Maybe it started when the new thrill of the relationship wore off and Rhys realized that Jack was more needy and attached than he initially thought. They hadn't been dating very long at the time, only a few months, but the older man was acting possessive, and Rhys couldn't say he appreciated it entirely. He was faithful, he never even GLANCED at other men the way he had at Jack. However, it seemed like every time they were out together, Jack threw glares around at everyone else, and even sent dangerous, threatening glowers at his boyfriend. It made him unsettled. It left a pit in the thinner's stomach and shook him to his core. Those cold, mismatched eyes and those thin lips pressed into a taught line.

Maybe it started when the CEO had to work more and didn't even have time for those outside experiences anymore. Or maybe he got tired of people "staring" at his Rhysie and decided he'd had enough, ultimately working more to keep the brunet at home and to himself. Vaughn and Yvette had warned him that it wasn't healthy, but, Rhys snorted and brushed it off. He didn't really want to admit defeat, admit that the relationship he'd been striding for for so long was a bust, but somewhere deep down, he knew.

Over the months, perhaps his disinterest had begun to show. For a while, Jack tried harder. He took Rhys out more, brought home flowers and expensive alcohols, nice gifts. It wasn't that the younger didn't appreciate the actions, because Rhys REALLY did. It was just the fact that he'd already sort of burnt out. Rhys had always been fickle, and he lost interest quickly when provoked to. It had been too late by then, but even he tried to get back into it, for Jack's sake, if nothing else. It ended the same way it had the first time, with his boss' jealousy and the dissipation of the failed attempts to rekindle a flame that had long since been extinguished.

Part of Rhys felt terrible for doing this to the man he'd sworn his love to, but another part of him felt like Jack had as much right to hold Rhys down as he had to hold Jack down, which, he wasn't. Not intentionally, anyway. Nights like tonight had become a sort of habit for the two. Come home together, eat a lazy meal, lay on the couch together, then have sex before they passed out and woke up to do it again. This was what everything came down to. Jack must have been as tired of it as Rhys was, although for a different reason. Handsome Jack was committed once he started dating a person. He gave them his everything, and was genuinely hurt every time it felt like it wasn't enough. With Rhys, though, it felt like he was failing on every level, and it was killing him. 

There wasn't light or love in their interactions, anymore. They were empty and hollow, even when the elder attempted to be adoring and romantic. Little kisses while holding him from behind in the bathroom mirror while Rhys went about his morning earned the smallest, fakest smiles with a little pat to his hands, and snuggling after sex turned into Rhys facing away from his boyfriend, staring absentmindedly into the wall until he fell asleep. He was emotionally pushing Jack away, and he couldn't figure out what he'd done wrong. That was probably the worst part for Jack. Rhys wouldn't tell him, he'd just smile and pretend to be happy. Rhys was clever, he knew how to calm his genocidal maniac of a boyfriend when he was upset, a skill Jack sorely lacked towards his partner. The brunet gave the elder soft pecks all over his face, let his hands move gently down Jack's neck, rubbing the muscles a little, while his whispers, reassuring little lies, came out in a soft voice that, despite the taller fighting it, soothed his anger and melancholy. 

Breathless and tired, the pair finished sometime close to one another, and Jack pulled himself out of Rhys, climbing out of bed only for a moment to find his boxer shorts and pull them on. His feet carried him out of the room, and into the bathroom, where big hands fumbled in the dark for the wash cloth that hung by the sink. Out of habit, his other hand found it's way to the sink faucet, turning the thing to warm and resting his fingers just below the spout. While waiting on the water to grow hotter, he idly tapped the metal. The cloth was moved under the stream when the temperature felt adequate, and Jack turned the water off, ringing out the soft rag before returning to the bedroom.

It was a sight that tore Jack's heart when he walked back in, a sight that used to make it melt. Rhys, alone in Jack's big bed, laying there with big, doey eyes, that blue one letting off a faint glow. The bigger of the two made his way to the smaller's side, gently parting his legs and wiping him clean. That earned a muttered "thank you", to which his boyfriend just hummed acknowledgingly. 

Despite everything being the same tonight, as every other night, something different happened now. Rhys' thinner figure sat up, and then rose to wobbly feet after Jack climbed back into bed. His brows raised, and he watched his boyfriend move in the milky moonlight, peeking in through heavy velvet curtains. Slowly, he started to gather his clothes from the floor, pulling his pants on first, and his button up after that. Confusion settled in Jack's hazy mind while those once raised brows started to knit. What the Hell was Rhys doing? Where was he going? 

"...Hey, Cupcake. What are you doing?"

"...I'm going home for the night."

"But you are home."

"Back to my place, Jack."

"...Why? Do you want me to-"

"No, I'm fine. I'll walk."

Well, Rhys had never officially moved in, and he still had his own apartment that he could go home to. Jack's lips pulled into a frown, while he joined his boyfriend in climbing out of bed, moving to hold him from behind with a sigh. His face buried in the crook of Rhys' neck, and his eyes closed tiredly while he took in the younger's scent. It smelled like sex and shame to the elder, a combination that made his stomach churn and his heart sink into his chest. The younger stopped abruptly, allowing Jack to hold him for that short moment. 

The next words to come out of Rhys' mouth were both shocking to Jack, and yet, not surprising at all. Like an atomic bomb you knew would be dropping, but you could never be prepared for.

"I think we should see other people."

"....What do you mean, Rhysie? No, no Baby, come on, talk to me. What's gotten into you all of a sudden?" 

"You know as well as I do that this isn't sudden, Jack. It's.... It's been going down hill for months."

"But why!? Fucking why? Damn it, Rhys, I'm trying so hard, I've BEEN trying! What about you?"

"...It IS me, though. I never said it was you, Jack. I... I know you're trying, I really do. And I appreciate it, but things aren't going to go back to how they were before. We BOTH know that. I don't... Feel the same. I don't think I ever even loved you, really. You were someone I wanted for so long, and when I finally got you, I guess I realized my expectations were too high to be maintained. It was... Perfect at first. I'm not really sure what happened after that."

"...So... So what? Just... We should give up because you don't feel the same? Because you never loved me? YOU FUCKING LIED TO ME! YOU TOLD ME YOU'D FUCKING LOVE ME FOREVER! WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT, RHYS? ...What happened to that...? I... I fucking love you, I don't just commit half-assedly and give up when it gets hard. That's not what love is, it just doesn't DIE like that..."

It was hard for Rhys, uncomfortable to have to peel himself away from Jack, to turn and face him while the elder gripped his fists by his sides, trembling in some mixture of what the younger guessed was rage and sadness. 

"...Look, I don't really... Want to try, or to fix this. I just... You're not for me, I'm not for you. You're.... Possessive, and clingy, and JEALOUS. You got mad when I interacted with other people. I can't do that again. I can't, Jack. I'm really sorry. I... I think I should go."

"Don't you fucking dare... YOU TOLD ME YOU WOULDN'T LEAVE!"

It came out in a booming voice, and before Rhys had time to react, he was breathless and being taken down by Jack's greater weight. Pinned to the floor and dazed, the younger choked when a big pair of hands caught around his marked up throat. Mismatched eyes stared down to the scene, while arched brows furrowed in a simmering, vengeful anger. The brunet could feel his airways being constricted, and he struggled to breathe, eyes tearing up while his hands tried desperately to pry Jack's hands away. It was obvious they weren't going to when they squeezed tighter, and the most pathetic sound, resembling a whimper, escaped in the process. Tears spilled over, and Rhys' legs began to kick in a panic. 

"You LIED. You said you'd always love me. What happened, Rhysie? Can't handle your idol anymore...?"

"P-plea...se..."

"Shut up.... LIAR!"

In one, rage fueled slip of the hands, a sickening pop sounded in the room, and the younger's eyes went wide. His lanky body quit struggling and went limp underneath the elder, who stopped completely. Stopped blinking, stopped breathing, stopped seething with some dangerous cocktail of distress and hatred. And then, some weak sound came out, visage changed instantly from angry to horrified, staring down at the neck that his hands seemed to consume entirely. When he pulled them away, slowly, as if he couldn't believe what he'd just done, they began to quiver. He didn't know he was crying until he saw the droplets land on Rhys' lifeless face, running down the sides and disappearing into those mussed ebony locks. One hand reached down to stroke a thin cheek, whilst his cracking voice attempted to coax the younger into responding.

"R-Rhysie, Kitten, come on... Wake up, talk to Daddy... I love you, please wake up... Baby, this isn't funny..."

Never before had Jack regretted taking a life. Aside from Angel, no deaths had ever completely broken him like this, reduced him to a mass of uncharacteristic pain and sobbing. But here he was, straddling his lover's corpse, hating himself more and more with each sweep over his soft features. He'd never meant for it to get this far, he'd never meant to hurt the man he wanted to marry. He'd never meant to make Rhys stop loving him in the first place. Now, though, he'd have no chance to try and win Rhys' heart back, no chance to make him fall in love all over again, or to change his ways. Hollow eyes continued to stare, pleading for the smaller to just laugh and come out of this fine, and totally, helplessly in love with Jack.

It would never happen, though, not now. Rhys was just another victim to jack's body count, now, nothing more, nothing less, at lest, that's what Jack told himself. And told himself. And told himself. Through work the next day, and on the way home, when the younger man, the one who'd once put light into his eyes and love into his life, didn't ride with him up the elevator. When he found his bedroom empty, found that a cleaning crew had disposed of the corpse for him. Jack wanted to rage, but reminded himself.

Rhys was just another victim to his body count. Nothing more, nothing less.


End file.
